Sweden were quick to jump on the bandwagon after their German Power Metal comrades, and throughout their tenure as one of Europe's most prolific contributors to the scene they produced many, many fine acts that never received the attention they so obviously deserved. Morifade were certainly one of them.

Cast in the speedy Helloween/Blind Guardian mould, Morifade began as a mere facsimile of their German brothers, taking every outstanding element created before them and rehashing it under their own moniker. Nothing new there. But what the young Swedes did was inject a harsh, almost extreme guitar sound into their melodic manifestos, and to great effect the band continued to use this demarcation throughout their three-album-career to date. At least they gave innovation a shot, unlike their many competitors. Their first recordings were released under the name Across the Starlit Sky, and their debut EP shows signs of great things to come, but they had rather humble beginnings, and as such what might have been quite outstanding at the time is now a rather clichéd, hackneyed set of Power Metal standards, each track marked with the prescience of improvement. That being said, "Enter the Past" is perhaps the most progressive song the band ever composed, and its sparkling follow up "Tomorrow Knows" is melodious slice of Stratovarius pie that all Power Metallers should taste at least once. Unfortunately, "Starlit Sky" and "Distant World" fail to captivate as much as the double-barreled openers and the stale production coupled with original singer Christian Stinga-Borg's flat vibrato makes Across the Starlit Sky a tad paltry compared to the quality albums they would go on to make. A decent start, though, guys. One that set them on a journey to conquer all, and yet achieved nothing of the sort.